As much as we like to tell ourselves that people don’t change, it’s simply not true. We are constantly learning and growing, hopefully for the better. The person we were yesterday may be completely different from the person we are today depending on what types of experiences are shaping our lives and how we choose to handle them. Artist Pol Úbeda Hervàs explores this constant transition of the self through his photography. By capturing himself and his shadow, then removing himself from the image, leaving only his shoes, he shows that there is still a man somewhere behind the shadow.

“These pictures are the way I see myself now.
My shadow is there but I erase myself because I don´t know who I am any longer.
The shoes remain only to make sure there is something more than… a shadow.”

It’s almost as if the shadow represents how the world sees a person, but only that person can truly know who they are, although sometimes it’s hard to distinguish your self from how the world sees you. Perhaps Hervàs is alluding to the idea that once a person has reached enlightenment and developed their full potential their shadow will match who they are. Check out more of his images on Flickr.